The purpose of the study was to investigate the criminal
career patterns of violent offenders. These data are intended to
facilitate the development of models to predict recidivism and
violence, and to construct parole supervision programs. Original data
were collected on young male offenders in 1964 and 1965 as they
entered the California Youth Authority (CYA). At this time, data were
collected on criminal history, including current offenses, drug and
alcohol use, psychological and personality variables, and sentencing, and
demographics such as age, education, work experience, and family
structure. The data collection also contains results from a number of
standardized psychological instruments: California Psychological
Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California
Achievement Test Battery, General Aptitude Test Battery, Army General
Classification Test, and the Revised Beta Test. After release from the
CYA and over the following 20 years, subsequent arrest information
was collected on the offenders, including the nature of the offense,
disposition, and arrest and parole dates.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the criminal
career patterns of violent offenders. These data are intended to
facilitate the development of models to predict recidivism and
violence, and to construct parole supervision programs. Original data
were collected on young male offenders in 1964 and 1965 as they
entered the California Youth Authority (CYA). At this time, data were
collected on criminal history, including current offenses, drug and
alcohol use, psychological and personality variables, and sentencing, and
demographics such as age, education, work experience, and family
structure. The data collection also contains results from a number of
standardized psychological instruments: California Psychological
Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California
Achievement Test Battery, General Aptitude Test Battery, Army General
Classification Test, and the Revised Beta Test. After release from the
CYA and over the following 20 years, subsequent arrest information
was collected on the offenders, including the nature of the offense,
disposition, and arrest and parole dates.

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Unit of Observation:
The unit of observation for Part 1, Original Data,
and Parts 3 and 4, CPI and MMPI Scale Scores and CPI and MMPI (COAS)
Item Responses, is individuals. For the Arrest History Data, the unit
of observation is arrest events.

Universe:
Young offenders in California.

Data Type(s):
clinical data, and event/transaction data

Data Collection Notes:

The data collection contains individuals' responses to
portions of the Composite Opinion and Attitude Survey (COAS). The COAS
is a combination of the California Personality Inventory (CPI), the
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and the Inventory
of Personal Opinions (IPO). Item responses are available for the CPI
and MMPI portions of the COAS. However, due to copyright restrictions,
no descriptive text is included with the responses. An appendix that
cross-references the COAS variables to the individual items in the CPI
and MMPI instruments is provided. Information is included in the
documentation for contacting the publishers of these instruments to
obtain further information.

Methodology

Study Purpose:
The purpose of the study was to investigate the
criminal histories of violent offenders. More specifically, the study
examined the influence of drug use on offending, repeat violent
offending over an extended time period, and the psychological
characteristics of offenders. An important part of this research
involved the use of standardized psychological instruments. The data
gathered with these instruments facilitate the development of models
to predict recidivism and violence, and to construct parole
supervision programs.

Study Design:
The research had its beginnings in the early
1960s when California was developing innovative programs in juvenile
justice, criminal justice, and other human services areas. Three
Reception Guidance Centers (RGC) provided intake functions for
California Youth Authority (CYA) wards committed by the courts to the
agency for custody and care. The RGC at the Deuel Vocational
Institution (DVI) in Tracy, California, processed the oldest group of
CYA wards during this time, and the original data used in this
research were generated and collected there. Original data were
collected on 4,146 offenders in 1964 and 1965. The young adult
offenders committed to the RGC-DVI spent six weeks at the center for
diagnosis and assessment. During this time they were tested
individually and in groups, interviewed by case workers, given medical
and dental examinations, and approximately 1 in 10 was examined by a
psychiatrist or a psychologist. The information generated during this
assessment phase was systematically collected for research purposes by
the clinical staff. A variety of psychological instruments were used
in this process, some administered by the CYA or other government
agencies as part of routine processing, others administered by the
researcher. Each weekly intake group spent the first complete week in
testing. The testing program started every Friday with an orientation
of the group and some diagnostic tests to determine the level of the
California Achievement Test Battery (CATB) to be given each
individual. The standard tests were administered beginning on the
following Monday. The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) was
administered by test proctors from the United States Department of
Labor, who made vocational counseling available after the testing.
From each weekly group, 40 individuals were selected for one week of
in-depth testing and observation in a vocational shop setting. Twenty
individuals were assigned to the metal shop and 20 to the wood
shop. Shop instructors evaluated subjects for training potential and
motivation for training. The Army General Classification Test (AGCT)
was administered only to the individuals in the intermediate and
advanced category of the CATB testing. The Revised Beta Test was
administered to individuals suspected of defective or borderline
defective intelligence. For those who met a minimum reading
achievement test, the researcher administered the Composite Opinion
and Attitude Survey (COAS) instrument. This was done to explore in
depth the various psychological characteristics of the offenders. The
COAS is a combination of three other psychological instruments: the
California Psychological Inventory, the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory, and the Inventory of Personal Opinions. Over
approximately the next 20 years, arrest records were collected for the
individuals in the original samples. Arrest histories, from the
California Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, are
available for 3,652 of the original 4,146 individuals. A total of
54,175 arrest records are available.

Sample:
The original data are comprised of a nonrandom sample of
young male offenders who entered the California Youth Authority's
Deuel Vocational Institute in 1964 and 1965. Arrest history records
from the time of first arrest through 1983 were collected on 88
percent of the original sample members.

Data Source:

self-enumerated questionnaires and arrest records

Description of Variables:
At the time of admittance to the California Youth
Authority, data were collected on arrest history, including current
offenses, drug and alcohol use, psychological and personality
variables, and sentencing, and demographics such as age, education,
work experience, and family structure. After release from the CYA and
over the following 20 years, subsequent arrest information was
collected, including the nature of the offense, disposition, and parole
date.

Response Rates:
Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales:
The data collection contains results from administering
a number of standardized tests. These tests included: California
Psychological Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory,
California Achievement Test Battery, General Aptitude Test Battery,
Army General Classification Test, and the Revised Beta Test.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Performed consistency checks.

Standardized missing values.

Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release: 1998-12-23

Version History:

2006-03-30 File CB9964.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one
or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well
as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable,
and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to
reflect these additions.